Fears of polio and measles outbreaks as child vaccination rates fall

The uptake of lifesaving childhood vaccinations has plummeted to the lowest level for a decade amid fears antivax myths are discouraging parents from booking appointments.

Health officials said they were “extremely worried” about the threat to children as NHS England figures revealed coverage of 13 of the 14 routine immunisations fell last year. This has also been linked to Covid disruption.

For the first time, no vaccines met the 95 per cent uptake target set by the World Health Organisation to sufficiently protect a population against deadly diseases including measles, tetanus and polio.

Only 89.2 per cent of one-year-old children received their first dose of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab in 2021-22. This is the first time the figure has fallen below 90